Mark Bugnaski / Kalamazoo GazetteKalamazoo Public Safety Officer Marc Rifenberg and his police dog walk in an alley north of Hays Park Avenue in Kalamazoo's Edison neighborhood today following Monday night's fatal shooting of a fellow Public Safety officer.

KALAMAZOO — Near Hays Park Avenue and March Street this morning, two Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers shook hands and then embraced long enough to give each other a pat on the back.

At headquarters, not far away on East Crosstown Parkway, flags flew at half staff.

Officers' badges were marked by a slender, black band.

Each scene was a visible reminder this morning that KDPS is an agency in mourning, having lost one of its own in the line of duty for the first time in its history.

“Shock, stunned, hurt,” KDPS Chief Jeff Hadley said this morning of the mood within the agency he has commanded now for nearly three years. “If I was to sum it up, it'd be that. The officers are pretty emotional right now, as they should be.

Officers had responded to Hays Park after receiving a report of shots being fired. Authorities said that officers encountered the man standing on a porch and that he advanced toward an officer while brandishing a handgun and gunfire was exchanged between the suspect and the first officer on scene.

The suspect then ran between houses on Hays Park and within seconds officers heard a second round of gunfire. The second round of gunfire occurred when the suspect confronted a second officer and the officer was shot and killed, police said.

Hadley has scheduled a news conference for noon at KDPS headquarters. He said this morning that the names of the slain officer and the suspect will be released at that time.

In the meantime, police were still at the scene Tuesday investigating and Hadley said he is focusing on providing assistance to the family of the slain officer, the officers who responded to the scene and any other officers within the agency who need help in the wake of the fatal shooting.